


Romeo's Quest (Saiouma)

by ySoda (yrxole)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - No Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Alternative Universe - Kingdom, Arranged Marriage, Attempt at Humor, Background Kuzuryu Fuyuhiko, Background Relationships, Boys In Love, Eventual Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Iruma Miu's Dirty Mouth, Komaeda Nagito As The Servant, Love Confessions, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Oma Kokichi Being Oma Kokichi, Oma Kokichi Is Bad at Feelings, Oma Kokichi Is a Little Shit, Oma Kokichi's mother is really sweet, Oma Kokichi-centric, Oneshot, Ouma not Oma, Pure Gokuhara Gonta, Romeo and Juliet References, lots of fluff, oumasai, rated M for use of language and refferences, saiouma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:27:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29704026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yrxole/pseuds/ySoda
Summary: It took some thinking, but the purplenette trickster was smart enough to understand that his parents would not stop with this marriage nonsense until he finally found someone, whether it was someone he would be able to love or not, so he decided to take control himself and at least find someone he knew he could live with for a longer period of time. If he swooned one of his friends into a friendly marriage, that would be far better than having a forced one with some stuck up prince or princess he didn’t care about.In which Kokichi helplessly tries to get his friends to marry him, afraid to ask the only person he truly wants to share his life with.
Relationships: Chabashira Tenko/Yumeno Himiko (background), Oma Kokichi & DICE, Oma Kokichi & Everyone, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Saihara Shuichi & Everyone
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	Romeo's Quest (Saiouma)

**Author's Note:**

> A/N:
> 
> This story is pretty light. I have been writing on this ever since I woke up today, so I'm not gonna check it right now before posting; I hope it makes sense! Haha...
> 
> Tw: Bad words are used against Miu and from her towards Kokichi, and there will be a part where bugs are mentioned.

Moonlight, only disrupted a little bit by the clouds that so now and then covered the big orbit eliminating the sky the best it could, shone through the mesh curtains hanging in front of the window of Ouma’s bedroom which made it unable for outsiders to inspect what was going on inside. Almost all of the castle seemed to be asleep, lights off everywhere and no noises except those of the guards guarding the place audible. Still, if one where to look closely to the bedroom window of Ouma, they would be able to see a small counter light coming from inside there; a candle had been lit, giving enough light for the servant of the male to be able to do his job, and too little for it to bother anyone sleeping near his room.  
  
Kokichi Ouma was a name that everyone around town must have heard at least once in their lives. He came from a rich family, a family which has been important for decades and decades as far as he knew, so it was no surprise that they had been chosen to guard this land in the name of the king. Earl Ouma was Kokichi’s father, and therefore he would inherit that title as soon as the old man kicked the bucket. He was the only son his parents managed to bring to this world, after all. He wasn’t sure how his mother managed to stand the earl, if he had to be honest. The man was as old as they come, he had developed a hearing problem from standing too close to shooters during the hunting season he loved to partake in, and he was overall an unhappy guy. This dissatisfaction with life he tried to still luckily not by bringing down the entire land he had to watch over, but unfortunately, by being a big ass to his family. Kokichi’s mother could do so much as to use a wrong word and take back a sentence for the wrath of her husband to come out. Most of the servants pretended they never heard the yelling, and Ouma eventually decided he would do the same.  
  
In any case, Kokichi Ouma was nearing his twenties now. It was quite normal for sons of earls to marry once they had reached the age of sixteen, as it was the age fathers usually abandoned the family by either leaving willingly or losing in battle. Kokichi however, was an exception to the rule. Even with a stern father his mother was as loving as they came and she managed to hold up his duties for him a little bit. His mother, the lovely woman with black hair that reached her shoulders and a short posture just like his own, was aware of her child’s wish to stay a child for as long as he possibly could. Of course he did have his training so now and then, but Lady Ouma made sure that her son had enough free time for himself. Unfortunately there weren’t many other kids that could play around with Kokichi in and around the castle as all of them were being raised either as too poor to even get near the castle or too wealthy to “play around” at their ages.  
  
Kokichi Ouma easily learned that royals were boring. All of them were, no matter how funny some of the stories about his uncles that had completely lost it at a certain age, and aunts that had damaged the family’s name by killing their husbands, had been for all of his life. Even if one of the royals seemed interesting enough, Ouma would eventually learn they were just gold-loving rulers with nothing else to add to their personality. That was how they were raised, after all. So he seeked his friends elsewhere; outside of the castle.  
  
The castle was placed in the middle of a land that mankind called Hope’s Peak, considering it was built upon a mountain group and had been a thriving city for as long as anyone living there could remember. The people considered “poor” lived a fine life considering the other lands that were not as lucky as this one was. Even though at first he hadn’t been allowed to, Kokichi left the castle a lot to simply stroll through the different alleys with _real_ people, people that worked for a living and that kept a sense of personality from it. These strolls were where he met those he would call his best friends, and those he would call family as well; dice. Dice had been a group of the lowest class in the kingdom, a group of young boys, girls and kids that either had no parents or had other problems at home, and they stood up for one another. They had not cared at all that Kokichi came from a wealthy family; they were actually very glad for him, as he often snuck out food and other resources for them once he’d been allowed into the group. They even saw him as a type of leader at some point, and although Ouma was quite honored to be called such, he didn’t cease to remind the others that his role was not to be a dictator like his father basically was.  
  
The other friends he met, were a couple of special teens that he came across, not really forming a group but being connected nonetheless. It consisted of Miu Iruma, the bad mouthed inventor, Kiibo Iidabashi, an inventor that Kokichi always considered a robot himself, Kaito Momota the space idiot, Angie Yonaga who scared him but intrigued him nonetheless, Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu who was a short tempered friend of the family, Himiko Yumeno that proudly called herself a witch and Gonta Gokuhara who was too sweet and simultaneously too stupid for words. And let us not forget Shuichi Saihara. Kokichi sighed quietly, a sigh that had become a non-surprising occurence when the name of the bluenette detective came up. 

‘I hate to be intruding, but I can’t help but to wonder where you are going this late’, Nagito Komaeda, the servant that had been assigned as his personal one spoke as he was dressing Kokichi. Ouma would have done it himself, but his father considered it something that people with his wealth shouldn’t, so he decided against pissing the guy off for today. After all, he needed to do something rather important.  
  
Nagito was a pale and slender looking guy with strange eyes and cloud shaped hair as white as snow. He spoke in a weird way and his priorities definitely needed to be straightened out, considering he too used to be a royal but eventually decided on becoming a servant since he deemed himself not good enough to watch over any type of land. None of the other servants really fancied coming close to him, as they were actually quite scared of the guy. When someone even dared to mention the word hope, they could be sure the white haired guy was already carefully watching them, ready to step in to give some type of lecture about the importance of it. Naturally, Kokichi immediately got along with him, and therefore he was chosen as his servant.  
  
‘I’m gonna take out the king so we can work our way up the ranks, nothing special’, Kokichi absentmindedly responded as his white shirt was tucked in and buttoned up with precision, a checkered vest pulled over his arms, ‘I’m considering a simple gunshot. But maybe poison would do the job nicely as well’. Komaeda had recognized the sigh, and decided not to press the subject any further. ‘Just make sure you get home safe’, said the guy with a calculating look, ignoring the snort that came from Ouma. ‘M’kay dad, will do’, the purplenette jabbed at his way of caring about the person he served, and he stepped away from Nagito as he was fully dressed.  
  
As Kokichi carefully moved through the halls of the castle trying to find his usual way out where he wouldn’t be spotted by guards, he thought of the words his parents had spoken to him this morning.  
  
It had been a sunny morning, one of those mornings where you wake up greeted with soft rays of sunlight tingling on the skin, waking up not too tired but lazy enough to curl up underneath the covers anyway and letting out a groan for no reason in particular. Kokichi recognized those mornings as fortunate ones, where his brain decided to let him be for a couple of hours instead of making him work overtime inside of his mind. He’d lazily joined his parents during breakfast on the other side of the long table, and he’d eaten the meal their specialized cook had prepared for them. That was when his father cleared his throat. He seemed to be in a good mood alright, so when Ouma looked up he guessed that he had some good news to share. Still, when he started with a ‘Your mother and I have been wanting to tell you this’, Ouma became a little suspicious of where the actual message was heading. 

‘You have reached an age where we are certain you should be able to fend for yourself, and for this kingdom. I am getting older, my son, and one day you will have to take over my place, whether you want to or not’, his father had said, placing his hands on top of the spotless tablecloth. Kokichi had ceased his eating, and stared at the table as he already figured where this was going now. ‘You have to marry someone, Kokichi. The protection your mother has given you from fate has ended. Tomorrow we will once again give this message to all of the kingdom, and this time you will need to pick someone to accompany you for the rest of your life’, he’d finished. Ouma had stood up with no words, he’d glared at his mother who tried to show him a look of sympathy, he’d slammed his fist against the glass on the table to make it tumble and for it to dirty the once so clean tablecloth with its liquid, and he had left the room ignoring his father’s indignant yells for him to come back. 

All the balls his parents had held simply for Kokichi to find himself a partner had been a disaster in the end, and he was very sure this time it would end just the same as always; every man and every woman that was introduced to him would not be interesting at all, everything would feel like some type of formal selling of humans, and he was sick of having to partake in it. He had told his mother time and time again that if he was ready to marry, he would tell his parents for sure and he would pick the person he wanted to be with himself. He had done none of this and yet they had decided that they couldn’t wait any longer. It was unfair. 

This is why he decided to go out tonight. It took some thinking, but the purplenette trickster was smart enough to understand that his parents would not stop with this marriage nonsense until he finally found someone, whether it was someone he would be able to love or not, so he decided to take control himself and at least find someone he knew he could live with for a longer period of time. If he swooned one of his friends into a friendly marriage, that would be far better than having a forced one with some stuck up prince or princess he didn’t care about. As far as he was aware it was not against any rule to choose a partner of his own outside of the royal family. It was the perfect plan. He even took the time to make up a list in his mind in which order he would ask his friends to be his life companion. First, he would ask Miu. She seemed like a desperate bitch after all, so he had enough chances that she’d think _fuck ‘em if they can’t take a joke,_ and he was pretty sure life wouldn’t be boring with that bimbo around. Then came Kiibo, Kaito, Angie, Fuyuhiko, himiko and gonta, and of course, again Shuichi.  
  
Ouma bit his lip as he went over the list in his head again, moving through the castle with a lack of lighting but in a way one would suspect he could see in the dark. He had become so known with these halls that he could find his way through them with his eyes closed if he had to. Shuichi Saihara. If he was completely honest with himself, the bluenette would have been his first choice. The male should have been boring to Kokichi, and yet he proved himself to be an interesting guy in any way possible. From his pretty features to his intelligent mind, everything about the detective was adoring in a way. That was why he was his last choice, as well. Ouma was sure he could take any harsh words from anyone alive anywhere in the world, but he wouldn’t be able to handle it if he had to taint his own image of the beautiful boy. Fortunately, it would probably not be necessary! The change that one of his friends would settle for a comfortable life inside of the castle was big enough, so perhaps he didn’t have to resort to the person he actually wanted to ask.  
  
Heading into a room on his left, Kokichi calmed and settled his mind as he was close to his escape route. It was a miracle guards had yet to find it, as he went there so very often, but he wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out they simply did not care enough to block his way out. Whether it was in broad daylight or when the sun had long settled, Ouma was never bothered when sneaking out of the place. He liked to think this was because he was very stealthy, but logically thinking, this could not have been the case. If even Nagito knew he was heading out so now and then, there was no way no one else in the castle must have known. Therefore he wasn’t that surprised when a hand was placed carefully on his shoulder as he was just about to open the broom closet that no one except he used where he’d found out an older door that had been made as a second fire escape but since never used was built behind, and he was stopped in his tracks. A warm voice spoke up behind him. ‘You don’t always have to be secretive towards your father, you know’.  
  
Kokichi turned around swiftly, catching the hand that was held onto his shoulder, and giving his mother an innocent look. The lady’s violet eyes, ones matching Kokichi’s own, radiated calmth; she was nowhere near mad. Although the heir was supposed to feel betrayed by the woman, he couldn’t help but to understand her reasoning as well. The Earl was indeed getting older. It was only logical that she was worried he would leave the earth earlier than Ouma was able to get himself a significant other. Besides, Kokichi did not intend to marry before he’d lived almost a whole lifetime if he could’ve chosen his own path, and his mother who probably knew him better than most around would’ve known this. ‘But it’s more fun that way!’, the purplenette shot back with a childish pout, a small grin forming on his face as his mother couldn’t help but to laugh softly. 

His gaze fell to the floor as they went silent, hands still holding onto his mother’s. He was grateful for her, for sure he was. He hoped she knew this, too. Even if she had the duty of a woman that could not afford affection, she never failed to be a wonderful person. She stood up for him towards his dad quite some time, sparing him the yelling and the pain. If someone had to take over his father’s spot, she should have been the one, but both of them knew that this unfortunately wasn’t how the world worked. So, instead of keeping his own mind closed off, he decided to squeeze his mother’s hands softly, and make eye contact with her again. ‘I might leave now’, he started, ‘but when I come back, it will be with a fiance, I assure you this’. 

Lady ouma smiled at this, a warm smile. Kokichi could recognize this one all the way back in his childhood whenever he brought back pretty stones he’d found in the garden back to his mother, assuring her she was the only one worthy enough to look after them. He’d always been kind of a momma’s boy, he supposed. ‘Good luck, boy. I truly do want you to end up with someone of your own choice too, even if you might not believe it’, she spoke sadly, her gaze falling down again. She shook her head a bit, something she oftentimes did when her demeanor seemed a little negative to “ _gain back positivity_ ” as she called it herself, and gave him a wink. ‘I’m rather curious who you will be bringing back home. By chance any of the lovely people from Dice?’, she asked, tilting her head. Even though he wasn’t actually allowed to, Kokichi had brought Dice into the castle multiple times to his father’s dismay, and his mother had grown quite fond of the kids. Kokichi pulled a grossed out face however as she said this. ‘They’re just like family, Ma. That’s like... marrying a cousin’, he said in his nasal tone, making the woman chuckle quietly with a light embarrassment. ‘Alright, alright, I will no longer be nosy then. Be safe out there’. 

With that blessing, the heir was on his way. His first destination would be the house of Miu Iruma, which was placed in a south east direction from the castle itself, and Ouma would be able to recognize it anywhere; after all, the self proclaimed gorgeous girl genius had built it herself to the annoyance of those living around her. The house was built out of different types of metal the woman had found, and together with mechanic Kazuichi Soda who was too scared of Kokichi’s antics to ever really get close to him, they had built a generously big house out of it. Windows were big and round windows she had nabbed from a ship builder, and even though the place looked like it would far apart at the seams if anyone took a step in it, it actually proved to be quite sturdy. She’d even managed to make a system in the house allowing everything to cool off inside with the help of colder air outside.  
  
As he was walking through the streets of different houses, Kokichi was wondering how he would ask the girl what he wanted to ask of her. He figured it was best not to act too serious, since that would scare her off. He didn’t want to be the one fuelling her ego either if it turned out she was going to turn him down. He wouldn’t be able to live past that obviously. Miu and he had a rather complicated friendship, or well, just a blatantly strange friendship. They cussed each other out every chance they got and if anyone would have asked them whether they were friends or not, they would’ve told this person they hated each other, and still in a way they kept up with each other. Kokichi Ouma didn’t mind complicated. He preferred complicated over boring, that was for sure. 

Although the lanterns in the streets were quite dull and he had to watch his step, he could still easily pick Iruma’s house out of all the other ones. A line had been hung outside underneath the balcony, where different bras and other undies were drying. The woman was the exact opposite of prude, that was for sure. It seemed a light was still on inside of Miu’s room, and Kokichi took a deep breath. This is it, he figured, and he nodded to himself. He was sure of his decision. He stepped into the generous garden the woman had made herself, and picked up some pebbles from the path that would lead him to the door of the house. Fortunately for him there wasn’t as much as a breeze outside. He could hear her work inside of the place, if he listened well.  
  
With a practiced hand, he threw one of the pebbles against the glass. He was aware it would probably leave a scratch in the glass, and to be frank, he did not care. The sound of the woman working inside ceased; she had probably heard the first stone. Just to be sure and just to be a bit of an asshole, Kokichi threw another one. ‘Romeo, oh Romeo!’, Ouma called out dramatically, aware he could have been waking up the neighborhood, but also aware that this was nothing new to them, ‘get onto your balcony and listen to me Miu!’.  
  
The door that led to the balcony and in which the big round window was crafted opened, revealing the strawberry blonde lady dressed in a simple gown for sleeping. Her hands were dirtied a little bit, probably grease, and she seemed more pale like this. ‘Fuck off’, Iruma snapped, a hand holding onto the door. ‘First of all, those are Juliet's lines. Secondly, I’m trying to finish my work quickly so I can sleep, so ya better have something really important to tell me, or I’ll squeeze your tiny body until nothing is left of it, asshole’.  
  
‘As charming as always’, Ouma sighed dreamily, folding his hands together for a dramatic effect and swaying on his legs. Miu snorted in both humor and confusion, watching the purple haired gremlin on her porch. ‘I need to marry someone, today is your lucky day!’, the boy dropped the news onto her, spreading his arms wide and bouncing up a little. 

Miu cackled, folding her hands over her chest and leaning backwards against the door after closing it behind herself, staying out on the balcony and looking down at the guy that seemed even smaller where he was standing. ‘You gotta be fuckin’ kidding me’, she added to this, seemingly finding the offer hilarious. Kokichi frowned, folding his arms over his chest as well. ‘Rude! I’m the best a cum dumpster like you is ever gonna come across, y’know! You should be thanking me!’, he raised his voice, smirking when the girl seemed affected by the usage of words. She never changed. ‘So, marry me?’, he added innocently, holding his hands behind his back as he gave her a sweet smile.  
  
‘As if. I’m not marrying a fuckin’ virgin. You can go home and go suck your servant’, Iruma spat at him, holding her hands on her hips. Ouma sighed to himself. That went... well. ‘Fine, you don’t deserve someone like me anyway! I hope you choke on your project!’, He retorted as he spun on his heels and started to leave her house. He could hear the girl shout profanities at him from behind, but he didn’t pay any mind to it anymore. He skipped down the street, in his mind striking through the first name on his list. At least he tried, he told himself, humming. It was time for his second victim. Proposal, he meant. 

Kiibo Iidabashi didn’t live that far away from the inventor. This was no surprise, considering they had the same kind of job, and they often helped each other further with ideas or with work. Kokichi wasn’t sure how Kiibo could stand the girl like he did, but he supposed the robot-like person had his fair share of patience and perhaps of narcism as well. Kiibo was a proud guy with a lot of brain capacity, white hair that seemed almost unnatural, and blue eyes that always seemed to be calculating everything around him. The most fun about him was that he was very easy to throw off and insult, as well as to mess with. He had learned to get along with Ouma, but it didn’t seem to be wholeheartedly. Which is also why Kiibo was the next perfect person for him to spend his life with; messing with people was one of Kokichi’s special abilities, and with Kiibo around he would be able to practice it as much as he wanted to. 

Kiibo did not have a very big garden, and his house was pretty humble. It was built by his grandfather when he moved to Hope’s Peak, and from that day onward additions to the place were never made out of respect; occasionally it needed restoration, but Kiibo refused to ever alter the house even if it was to fit his liking. Kokichi wasn’t sure if the guy was able to like anything anyway. He was pretty sure the white haired male had secretly been a robot all along like those he tried to build, and one day he’d take over the world. If he did, Kokichi would at least be able to turn to all his friends and rub it in their faces with an _I told you so_ . The only one who had actually laughed about this idea had been Shuichi. He’d even told Kokichi he would look into it for the joke’s sake. Ouma smiled a little.  
  
He snapped himself out of it, and walked up to Kiibo’s door, ringing the doorbell.  
  
‘Kiibo, get your ass out here!’, Kokichi whined as he slammed his hands onto the wooden door, continuously ringing the doorbell as there was no reaction from the person inside. That didn’t mean Ouma would cease his antics, though. The guy must have been well aware there was no escaping the purplenette, even if he turned out to be a robot with no emotions after all. ‘I know you’re in there, and I’m gonna be annoying you until you open up!’, Kokichi called again, still slamming his free hand against the door and ringing the doorbell with the other. Eventually, he could hear the several clicks of Kiibo’s window being unlocked. Ouma smirked. Bingo. 

An annoyed Kiibo opened up the window and leaned out of it a bit to look down at his unasked-for guest. ‘What do you want, Ouma-kun’, the guy grumbled, seemingly tired. That must have been an act though. ‘I didn’t know robots could get tired’, the trickster responded with a fake curiosity. Kiibo rolled his eyes, and his hands gripped onto the handle with which he could open and close the window. ‘I’ve you’re just here to be robophobic again, I will cut this meeting short right now’, Kiibo told him sternly.  
  
‘No, wait!’, Ouma quickly called out. This caught Iidabashi’s attention it seemed, as he tilted his head curiously, and kept the window opened. A noise of someone walking inside of the house was heard, and for a second Kiibo’s attention was brought to this noise, before turning back to Kokichi. In this second the purplenette’s desperation had changed to him holding his arms in his neck and leaning back with a happy grin. ‘Lucky you, you get to marry me!’, he basically notified the white haired guy.  
  
‘E-excuse me?!’, Kiibo basically shouted with a shocked frown, stepping back from the window. The footsteps came closer to the window, and Kokichi could make out a voice that said a soft ‘Who’s out there?’, to which the white haired male turned. The heir could tell this voice belonged to Kazuichi Souda the mechanic; they probably were busy on yet another collaboration project. The pink haired guy was known for working all at once until a project was finished, which meant he could be working on it for days straight without as much as a break, and Kiibo probably had no way of saying “ _no_ ” to the guy. Ouma decided to rudely listen in to what the two guys were whispering to each other.  
  
 _‘It’s Kokichi’_ , Kiibo responded to the pink haired mechanic in a hushed voice. Kokichi could imagine the boy’s frown. _‘What does he want?’_ , Kazuichi asked, not as much in a whisper. He wasn’t that good at being secretive, Kokichi supposed. _‘I think- I think he just asked me to marry him’_ , Kiibo whisper-yelled indignantly, and Ouma tried his hardest not to crack up as he noticed the worry in the white haired guy’s voice. It was silent for a little bit. Then Souda spoke up again. _‘He has money, right?’_ , the guy mumbled, and another silence followed. _‘Yeah, I suppose’_ , Kiibo muttered. Kokichi raised a brow, leaning against the door as he waited for the two men to finish negotiating in their own strange way. _‘Well, if he’s loaded, I’d say yes. Fuck it, right?’_ , Kazuichi advised him, and Ouma brought a hand to his lips, really trying his hardest not to crack up. 

Kiibo turned back to the window, again leaning out of it as he turned to the purplenette who was looking up at him expectantly. ‘Kokichi hun, you’re great’, the robot-like male told him carefully, and with a smile he continued, ‘but I will not be able to survive if I have to live with you longer than a day at a time‘. And well, Ouma supposed that was fair enough. So again, he was on his way to the next person on his list.  
  
Kaito Momota would be a hard one to convince that marrying him would be a good choice, Kokichi was aware. Definitely since he had pissed him off a couple of days beforehand by telling him the time they sent monkeys to space was over so Kaito’s chance to go was long gone.  
  
Having received two no’s didn’t really scare Kokichi off to ask the others, since he knew he had nothing to lose anyway, but if all of his friends decided Ouma was too difficult of a person to live with, he would have to face the problem of needing to pick a partner from people he’d definitely rather not have to live with. For the sake of saving himself from a boring future he knocked on the door of Kaito Momota who lived a couple of blocks further from Kiibo.  
  
‘Yo- oh, it’s you’, Kaito said, blinking as he opened the door for Ouma, ‘What do you want’. Kokichi pouted, folding his arms over his chest again like he felt he’d done many times already this night, and he rocked on his heels. ‘No need to sound so disappointed. I was gonna bring you great news after all, but now I’m not so sure if I still want to’, the purple haired guy grumbled, rolling his eyes. He watched the bigger guy grow a little more curious in front of him from the corner of his eye as he, fakely offended, pretended to stare away. ‘Spit it out, Ouma’, Momota demanded. He had learned to be a bit on guard when the smaller guy was around. At first he had hated the boy, but because his friend Shuichi had taken a liking to the trickster, he managed to get over his own hatred and he tried to see the guy as something different than a nuisance. He was making it terribly hard for himself, though. 

‘Fine, since you asked so nicely’, Kokichi batted his eyes at him, noticing the distrust on the other’s face. ‘I love you, marry me!’, Ouma exclaimed, arms resting in his neck once again as he looked up at the space loving idiot that was looking down at him. There wasn’t as much as a shock on his face; it was more a frown of confusion that was visible. ‘I thought you liked Shuichi’, Momota responded, his voice growing a little more sharp near the end. He was taking on an almost offended, defending attitude, and even Ouma understood that was probably not going to be in his advantage if he ever wanted to see the blue haired detective again. Kaito was strangely protective over his friends sometimes. 

‘Alright, alright, you got me’, Kokichi therefore sighed, looking away in a bored fashion. ‘So what, what’s it to you?’. He was aware he sounded pretty defensive, but at the same time, it didn’t matter to him. Kaito raised a brow, and for some reason, the guy laughed quietly. If Kaito’s face wasn’t the thing that was already irritating him, this laugh _definitely_ annoyed Kokichi, and he was almost regretting including this dude in his list. ‘Why don’t you just ask him, then?’, Kaito asked him the most reasonable question one could ever ask him, meaning the idiot was inherently just boring himself as well. Ouma groaned, rolling his eyes as he turned away. ‘I’m on a quest for a spouse, dumbass. Obviously if I asked Saihara-chan first, he would’ve immediately said yes, and that wouldn’t be much of a quest now, would it?’. 

‘You’re afraid of getting rejected by him, aren’t you?’, Kaito asked after a moment of silence.

Ouma felt his body stiffen at the moment those lips left the astronaut, a strange sensation which he usually only felt whenever his father was going a little too far with his insults. Forgive and forget. Could he forget? 

‘Great talk, but I have a dozen of other hearts to open up to, so I’ll be taking my leave now. I’ll take it you’re saying no as well. Adieu!’, Kokichi waved at him as he rushed away from the house of the stupid dude that he shouldn’t have bothered going to anyway. Kokichi Ouma, scared of rejection? _As if_ ! That was not at all the case. It wasn’t about _him_. Kaito Momota was just a stupid idiot, and he was glad the guy didn’t get tempted by his money. He heard the door of the astronaut’s house close as he left. He wouldn’t pursue him either. God knew he didn’t have the condition for it anyway. 

Shuichi Saihara wouldn’t reject him, that was not something Kokichi feared. Kaito may not have understood this if he told him, like he didn’t understand many things, but it wouldn’t be Shuichi Saihara that would reject him. Shuichi was… he was too different for that. He wouldn’t be able to, you see. If Shuichi were to tell him to fuck off with his stupid proposal, it would no longer be Shuichi. It would be someone else, some rude and cruel person taking over the body of an angel. It wouldn’t be _his_ Shuichi if the guy could be as cruel as to reject any of Kokichi’s most honest and truthfully most terrifying feelings. So he wasn’t at all scared of getting rejected by Shuichi. He was just scared of finding out _his_ Shuichi simply didn’t exist. Of finding out that once again his own imaginative world that always had been big, had created an image of something that did not exist. That was all. 

Ouma ceased his running, and continued walking to Angie Yonaga’s house.  
  
The girl was a rather strange young woman, he had to admit. She had a beautifully creative mind and could paint like no other, as well as create things out of nothing whenever she wished to. She too had built her own house. The place was secluded and in some way not part of any other residential area, and yet it wasn’t too difficult to reach either as the girl had made her own path towards the main road of this street. The pathway went all the way into a park, and the park Yonaga viewed as her garden. Kokichi couldn’t help but to view the different statues Angie had placed along the path with curiosity. Every time he went by, there would be more. They would be made out of wood, out of metal, out of stone or glass and sometimes even out of dirt; just whatever the girl could get her hands on. Her house was very big in a way, but her home was not; she had built a tower, one with a bell up all above, and when she’d been working on it, almost everyone in the village came by so now and then to watch her work in fear that she’d fall off of the self made scaffolding that was placed against the brick walls. Angie proclaimed that half of her home was for her, and the other half was for Atua. No one really cared to know what that meant. 

It was no surprise for Kokichi to see her outside of her home, as she waved at the purplenette where she was working. She was painting on the outside of her tower, overpainting the background she had made before. Angie’s creative mind could almost never be stilled, although she herself usually told anyone who asked that it was Atua using her body to create whatever he felt like. ‘Ah, Kokichi! It is nice to see you!’, Angie said happily, turning to him and letting go of the paint brushes she was holding. ‘What do you think?’, she asked, gesturing to the wall behind her. Creatures were painted onto them, a little bit horrifyingly so, as they seemed to be partially human, and partially some type of cruel imagination.  
  
‘Ah… wonderful’, Kokichi hummed as he cleared his throat, turning his eyes away from the work. Even though Angie Yonaga was one of the most friendly women one could ever come across, she also was one of the most scary ones in Ouma’s mind. He didn’t fear a lot, but Yonaga… was a different story. Reminding himself of the boring royal he would have to live with if he didn’t get one of his friends to say yes, the purplenette forced a smile on his face, as he held up his hands in a freeing way. ‘So, as you know, I will have to marry someone before I take over the title my father carries’, he started, watching how the girl looked at him curiously, not sure what this had to do with her, but loving the gossip either way. ‘And you are the lucky girl! So, what do you say?’, Kokichi ended his statement, hoping he did not sound too tired. It had been a long night already, and he was hoping he would get a “yes” at some point so he could just go home and sleep as well. 

Angie placed a finger on her lips, and leaned to the side, as she did often. It was a signal that she had to think about it, but not too deeply or for too long. ‘Hmm’, Angie eventually answered, ‘Well, Angie would love to! But Atua thinks you are a disgrace of a human being, so Angie would have to decline. Alas’, the white haired girl smiled at him, folding her hands together. Kokichi pouted. ‘How could you, Atua… I thought we had something special’, he subconsciously heard himself say to make a joke out of the situation, although from the inside he began to worry that every encounter with his friends would end this way. Sure, they had every right not to want to marry him, but still. But still… ‘Now begone, heathen. Angie has business that does not concern you!’, the girl cryptically spoke as she ushered him away, and afraid of what that meant, Kokichi decided to dash off like she had instructed him to. 

Going to Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu’s home went like expected. The blonde short tempered guy’s family was on friendly terms with Kokichi’s, and he was about the only considered-royalty that proved not to be boring. Before Ouma could even get a knock at his door, the door itself was thrown open and there was a gun pointed at him. Fuyuhiko was dressed in comically large pajamas, matching pants and shirt, holding a shotgun that the heir could recognize from anywhere since this was not the first time it had been angrily pointed at him, and he held up his hands hoping he wouldn’t be shot with a weird noise coming out of his throat. 

‘Ouma, is that you again? I swear to fucking _christ’,_ the blonde guy grumbled tiredly, obviously taken out of bed by the trickster’s arrival. Kokichi figured he could serve as a good guard dog, since even before anyone reached his door, he always seemed to notice someone was heading his way. Kokichi didn’t know a lot about it, but he was aware that Fuyuhiko was into some shady type of business that his parents condoned simply for the cash that it brought into their own pockets as well. ‘...I suppose now is not the right time to ask you to marry me’, Ouma said, his voice only trembling a little bit. 

The blonde guy took a deep breath. He seemed to be counting to ten, which would have been hilarious if it wasn’t for the actual weapon still inches close to Kokichi’s reddening face. ‘You know, just because you are a friend of the family does not mean I would hesitate for even a second to make sure you never walk again’, Kuzuryu told him in a voice that said he was seriously considering the idea, and the purplenette gulped; _‘_ Duly noted, have a good night’.  
  
Himiko would have actually been a good shot for him if it weren’t for the fact that she had a girlfriend who was scarily protective over her. After running away from Fuyuhiko’s mansion, he had only seconds to calm his breathing down when he reached Himiko’s door and asked her the question he had been asking literally everyone all night, until he had to start running again. And yes, maybe it hadn’t been a great idea to ask a lesbian to marry a guy, and maybe it had definitely not been a great idea to consider a threeway marriage, especially since one of the girls was a master in aikido and considered all men degenerates, but Kokichi could now say he officially was desperate.  
  
Finally shaking the girl off, which proved to be a rather difficult task considering her stamina was on point, Kokichi reached Gonta Gokuhara’s house. He buried his face in his hands, coming back to his senses after running his ass off, and leaned forward a bit. This was his last option before having to face his fear in the form of the man he loved, and to be honest he would rather go with something safe and be sorry afterwards than to go for what he actually wanted, but which could fail.  
  
Gonta was a sweet and honest man. He wasn’t that bright, but he was helpful and he cared about his friends a lot more than anyone in their right mind should. He would probably sacrifice everything for them, as long as he could be a gentleman in their eyes. Kokichi therefore kind of hated to have to ask this sweet man the question he possibly felt he couldn’t say no to, but there was no other option at hand. This is partially the reason why Gonta was second to last on the list. Another reason for that was the fact that the guy really loved insects for some reason, and Kokichi was absolutely terrified of the little creatures. The idea was that Gokuhara could have the garden of the castle to keep his little bug friends so that Kokichi didn’t have to deal with them if he were to say yes to him.  
  
As Ouma knocked onto his door and waited, he already felt a shiver run through his body as he could see some of the insects in the garden creeping over leafs and over flowers. Gonta had proudly told everyone that he’d made his garden have a variety of flowers and bushes which attracted different types of the little bugs so he could inspect every one of them. Of course it was a little adorable that he’d given all of them different names, sure, but Kokichi still got the heebie-jeebies thinking about the thousands of little insect eyes inspecting him. 

It took almost no time for the big guy to open the door, and smile. ‘Kokichi!’, the man happily declared, ‘Gonta is happy to see Kokichi!’. Ouma couldn’t help but to smile back a little. The guy definitely wasn’t lying like the others would have been if they were to say this sentence, and he earned a soft spot in Kokichi’s heart, even if he sometimes too was freaked out by the green haired male. He was wearing pajamas as well and Ouma realised he must have woken him up, considering for a second to apologize for this, but deciding against it. They had business to attend to. ‘Hey, big buddy’, he greeted his friend back, scratching his neck. ‘So, this may come sudden but, I have no one else to turn to. How does marrying me sound to you?’, the purplenette managed to say, cringing a little at the words.  
  
Gonta hummed, placing a finger at his mouth. ‘Gonta not sure what “marrying”, means, very sorry’, he said, looking down in shame. ‘Oh, oh, that’s alright’, Kokichi told him as he held his hands out as if the guy was holding a gun at him. That would be a terrifying sight, so the heir decided not to think about it for much longer. ‘You see, marrying someone means you will spend the rest of your life as their… partner. If you marry me, you can have the entire garden, and you can tell me all about the bugs you keep in there. How’s that sound?’, Ouma tried with a small smile, already feeling like something was crawling up his back from the idea that he would have to listen to the guy talk about the despicable creatures.  
  
‘I-is marrying like… mating?’, Gonta asked with confusion, making Ouma snort shortly, and clear his throat. ‘Yes, I suppose so’. Gonta’s face turned a little red, and he held his hands out. ‘Oh, but Gonta has not shown a proper courtship! Gonta would be no gentleman if he did not show Kokichi! Gonta cannot say yes, Gonta is very sorry!’, the man sputtered, tears seeming to well up in his eyes. The purplenette felt very bad for seeing an honest man like this get as embarrassed as he did, and his eyes widened a bit. ‘Oh no Gonta, that is okay. I understand. But- eek!’.  
  
Kokichi let out a strange noise as he again felt like something was crawling up his back and he jumped up, turning his head trying to see what was going on. In this way he turned his back to Gokuhara, and the green haired male tapped onto his glasses, looking closer. ‘Ah, do not worry friend Kokichi! It is only friend Casper!’, the entomologist notified him with a tender smile, patting Ouma’s shoulder. Kokichi could feel his breathing quicken, hoping his face wasn’t turning purple by now. He needed air. ‘Wh-who… is friend... Casper…’, he managed to ask, although he was already dreading the answer. ‘Friend Casper is a cecropia moth caterpillar! Nice to humans, does not sting. Can grow to almost five inches! Gonta feeds Casper very well, so he already grown to… Gonta think four inches!’, he excitedly told the boy who was turning paler and paler every second that passed. ‘Gonta thinks friend Capser likes Kokichi’, Gokuhara told him with a laugh.  
  
‘Gonta… get this thing off of me… _right now_ ’, Ouma whispered, swallowing the lump that had formed in his throat. ‘Does Kokichi not like bugs?’, Gonta asked with a small frown, feeling almost insulted, and right now the purplenette did not care at all that he was hurting the man’s feelings. ‘Gonta, get it off me. Get it off!’, he whined, jumping uneasily, his hands shaking a bit. Luckily the green haired male listened to him now as he didn’t want to upset the caterpillar any more than he probably already was from being shook like this, as well as that he didn’t wish for the creature to fall to the ground and hurt itself. ‘Okay, I can not do this with you’, Kokichi huffed out as soon as he could breathe again when the caterpillar was placed back onto the plant it had been sitting on before. 

Leaving the confused Gonta who didn’t understand why Ouma’s plans had so easily changed behind, Kokichi was now walking through the dimly lit streets, still grossed out every time his mind went back to that big green blob of an insect that had taken a liking to him. Maybe asking his friends for something so trivial had been a stupid idea, but Kokichi figured that even the past he wasn’t as dumb as to take on such an idea without any reason as to why.  
  
Then he ceased his walking as he realised that the only one left to ask was in fact Shuichi Saihara. ‘Full circle’, he muttered. He had feared this would happen. 

Sweet, innocent Saihara-chan. The nerd with the books and with the big heart. With his golden eyes, that would sparkle when he understood something before someone had explained it to him, and which would speak all the words he wanted to say whenever he kept himself from expressing his true feelings. The blue strands of soft hair which framed his face in a boyish way, the one strand that would always stubbornly stand up from his head no matter how many times the guy would try to pat it down. The smart kid with the addiction of green tea, one sugar and a bit of milk, to calm his nerves. The lanky kid that never quite grew into his body in the way most guys should have. Pretty, sweet Saihara-chan. What would be left of him? 

Kokichi didn’t want to think about it. And still, a part of his brain had wanted all along for this to happen, because of all the what-if’s. What if Shuichi didn’t mind the question? What if Shuichi would actually listen to him, and he would understand? What if, instead of being harsh and rejecting the guy in a way all of his friends did which as an exception this time would hurt, Shuichi would say yes? What if Shuichi felt the same about him, the same way that Kokichi longed for him? What if all this worrying had been for nothing?  
  
Still, that didn’t mean he didn’t need a full proof plan for him to be able to get the guy to actually say yes to him. As predictable as Shuichi Saihara should have been with his crime obsession and his long lashes and those charming words that he didn’t even purposely say in that way, he still could be very, very unpredictable at times. Maybe that was what Ouma liked about him. Confirming to himself that he liked the dude had been hard on him, and it had taken him more than a year to realise, only to not do anything about this attraction for multiple years to come. 

He had met Shuichi Saihara back when he was sixteen and left the castle for his very first time. Shuichi was together with Kaito and a blonde haired woman he’d never seen since, as they were walking across the pathway made for a local market that was held every other Saturday. It was a place where one could get rid of their old junk and hopefully make a little bit of money off of it as well. Shuichi loved these markets simply because usually old books were perceived as junk as well, and he gladly took them over for a quarter of a shilling or less. At least so Kokichi had been told. Kokichi had been right there, staring at everything in awe of the occurrence. He’d never seen anything like it before in the castle, where everything was new and expensive and definitely not of second-hand. Everyone’s little handmade shop had been made out of wooden frames that were kept in a storage of the village, one that only served the purpose of keeping these frames and bags of flour that were sold on sale during this particular time of the week. The wood was old and overused, and only served for a more homely look given to the street.  
  
Ouma had been so lost in the different sensations that he could see, and also smell as some of the shops were used to sell baked goods and drinks for those taking their day off to take a stroll through the area, that he hadn’t noticed the big astronaut in front of him and he’d walked right against him. The guy had been holding a type of sweet made with dough and cane sugar that locally was called sugarbread after its main ingredients, and it fell to the ground. Kaito was so very pissed at him then; a first impression seemed to be very important to him. Kokichi wasn’t one to apologize, and the obvious choice he made was to start a discussion about it towards the big guy. He had told him all kinds of things, such as that it was his own fault he was so big his skinny arse was the only thing that reached Ouma’s eye and that this was why he promptly decided if he wasn’t going to see anything else that they, he might as well ruin the astronaut’s day as well, and eventually the both of them had gotten into such a heated discussion that even went as far as whether or not Kaito had a good behind, well, they had to be broken apart basically. This had been Kokichi’s first actual interaction with anyone living outside of the castle, and if he had to be honest, it had been of top tier entertainment. Shuichi Saihara had already caught his eye, and although he hadn’t known him by name back then, he couldn’t help the strange feeling he felt in his chest as he saw the bluenette trying to hide his amusement as he was supposed to stop his friend from starting a fight with someone he had just met.  
  
Saihara had offered Kokichi to join them for a new round of the sweets to make it up to them, and Kokichi had easily taken him up on this offer. He was used to the best of the best dishes to be made for him if he even so much as mentioned a sense of hunger, and this bread that was slightly undone in the middle and baked in a simple oven by a simple woman that thanked them for the coins she received, it was heavenly in a way that Kokichi had never had anything before. Shuichi had asked him if he never had sugarbread before since he seemed to enjoy it so much, as well as getting the syrup that the sugar formed in the center smudged all over his face, and he had _giggled_ as Kokichi responded with a happy hum. Kaito and the blonde girl had watched him with this strange glint in their eyes that made the bluenette’s face turn a little red as he hid behind a hat he was wearing. That was also the moment that Kokichi decided he would do anything to get him to show his embarrassment without having a hat to hide behind.  
  
Thinking back about the encounter, that longing feeling settled in his chest once again, and he grumpily shook his head, holding it in his hands. Focus. He needed to make sure this wouldn’t go wrong, because even though he had said the words will you marry me countless times this evening in all different ways, this time would be the only one that he meant. The only one that mattered. How does one swoon someone like Shuichi?  
  
Kokichi had let his guard down gravely around the detective. He had been honest with him at times, in ways that he was honest not even to himself. He didn’t know if Shuichi knew this, or if he simply accepted it as another part of their friendship that only made sense if it didn’t make sense. He hadn’t minded any of the lies that Kokichi told him either. It was always about mundane things, and Shuichi had always listened with interest to him, even if he was aware a story that Ouma was telling him was complete and utter bullcrap. Shuichi grew to feel like a home to him, a home that he’d never experienced before, and he truly hoped that the detective too considered him a home. A home which he could share the embarrassing memories to, knowing that he would laugh at them and poke fun at him for it, and at the same time he would completely accept anything the blue haired angel would tell him for he was the one saying the words. Loving a family was something known to the purplenette, but loving someone outside of it was a new sensation. He had spent multiple nights unable to sleep, he had even genuinely cried at times that no one was around, and after the fear and the uncomfortableness had worn off somewhat he’d completely softened up to this unknowingly powerful man.  
  
Although Kokichi loved to mask his feelings, he sometimes couldn’t help but to let them out in an over-exaggerated fashion in front of the blunette, usually causing him to laugh. It made Ouma smile, even if it hurt as well. He liked making people laugh, as well as he liked making people feel other emotions. Calling the boy his beloved and saying all kinds of romantic nonsense to him when they were alone or even better yet, when they were in front of many people, he would embarrass him to no end if not amuse him in other ways. Shuichi probably never understood that these words weren’t just completely empty ones chosen only to target him for a while with his mockery. Even though he was a very good detective, Saihara was not at all skilled at understanding the feelings of those around him which were casted towards him, unless they were of a bad kind. The bluenette very unfairly suffered from many self esteem issues. Kokichi could help himself walk up to his boringly normal house with the thought that a marriage proposal, even if denied, would probably be a small boost for his almost non-existing ego. Shuichi had to know he was loved. 

Kokichi knew that the detective usually kept his window unlocked, as he opened it up right before going to bed so his room wouldn’t feel as hot as he went to sleep. He didn’t want to leave the guy an easy way out, so he wasn’t going to knock and let him show up at that window to look down upon the guy rambling and to decide to close that window once he figured out wrongly everything was just a farce. The only logical solution for leaving Shuichi nowhere to hide himself in embarrassment, was to open the window from the outside and to climb through it. Inside of his home he had nowhere to run to after all. And hey, maybe if Kokichi was lucky, the bluenette would feel too awkward to be able to say no to him. 

Although Ouma wasn’t someone with a big amount of muscle and strength, he was stealthy enough to be able to climb the wall that would lead him to Shuichi’s bedroom window. Holding onto the ledge with one hand and onto the window sill with his other, he pulled his own body weight up, managing to lunge one leg forward that clamped around the sill and into Shuichi’s room. As that was done it was only a matter of shifting his weight and letting himself fall into the room, onto the floor with a small thud.  
  
Shuichi’s bedroom was a simple one. The floor was made of marble wooden floor tiles that gave the impression of a dark wood, adding to the simplishy brown walls with details only in the corners of the room. There were some photographs hung to the walls to give it just a little bit of a better atmosphere, and on his left side the wall was covered in a big bookcase holding possibly dozens of books. His bed was on the far right of the rather small room, shoved into the corner. It held grey and white covers and a simple mattress. His closet was close to this bed as well, and on the side which the bookshelf was touching there was a door heading to a small bathroom. The candle that was placed at Shuichi’s nightstand signified he was already getting ready for his evening routine. The sudden thud with which Kokichi had landed onto the floor must have been audible throughout the house, as he could hear the creaking of stairs notifying him Shuichi was moving to his room in a hurry. With the little time he had left, Kokichi got up and dusted his clothes off, hoping to look a little presentable at the very least.  
  
The door opened, and there stood the guy himself that Ouma had been worrying about almost the whole evening, dressed in this oversized shirt of his that served as pajamas, holding a book underneath his left arm and a cup of his beloved green tea in the other. The once tense boy calmed down a little, letting out a small sigh of relief at the sight of Kokichi instead of the perhaps expected criminal standing inside of his room, and he could easily close the door behind him, before leaning against it. ‘Ouma-kun’, he breathed, blinking with a watchful gaze pointed towards the purplenette. His head was hat-less, Kokichi now could see, which was a good thing. ‘What are you doing here?’. 

Ah, the dreaded question. Kokichi could feel himself shut down a little at the words, trying to get a hold of himself but almost failing to. He didn’t want to scare Saihara off, that was and would never be his intention. If he took it too lightly, he might have seemed like he didn’t care about the subject, but if he made it too heavy it would be a bigger question than he truthfully meant for it to be. So he did what he was good at; he would bring it to him in a somewhat joking way, making sure to give the truth the main focus. ‘Good evening, Saihara-chan! So… _I’m gonna marry you_ ’, he smiled brightly, opening his hands to the guy with an innocent look that could hide most of his nerves, hoping the statement caught the bluenette’s attention. 

There was a hint of amusement visible in Shuichi’s eyes as he had finally managed to calm down with the thought it was only Ouma inside of his bedroom. He walked over to his nightstand and placed the cup of tea onto it together with his book, before taking a seat on top of the covers of his bed. ‘Oh, you are?’, he asked, semi-interested, taking the cup of the hot liquid he loved to his lips and sipping on it as he looked at the smaller guy inside of his room. Kokichi imagined he probably had the whole evening planned out as per usual. He would be reading in a newly bought book for a while, drinking his tea, and afterwards the events of the day would have been off of his mind and he could sink into a nice slumber. Ouma was there to change his plans up as per usual.  
  
‘Yup!’, Kokichi chirped in affirmation, placing his hands behind his back and using it to push him away from the wall on which he leant so now and then, keeping his body in a rocking motion so he could hopefully move the nerves out of his system. ‘I only need for you to say yes, so pretty please, say the words and I’m all yours, baby!’, he winked at him, noticing the faint blush that spread over the boy’s cheeks as he did this even though it had been an obnoxious motion created only for him to be able to laugh it off in his own way. Shuichi cleared his throat, his gaze lowering to the floor as he hummed. ‘Very funny’, he said eventually once Kokichi had grown silent, and he pulled the cup away from his lips, to give him yet another smile. ‘So, what are you actually here for?’.  
  
Kokichi blinked, taken aback, but only a little. Of course, Shuichi was used to his antics. He knew how Kokichi could get and how far he could take his jokes and his lies, but the fact that he viewed this as yet another lie, it was actually quite painful in a way that Ouma didn’t know how to describe to himself. Or well, he knew how to, but he didn’t want to. If he had already failed before coming into this building, then he would rather dash off right now like he had done countless times before. ‘No, no I’m serious. You need to marry me’, Kokichi told him, face as blank as he could muster it to be. 

Shuichi kicked his legs a little where he was sitting on the bed. His face was tilted as he watched Ouma for a bit, and he seemed to be… waiting. Waiting for Kokichi to reveal the clue. Waiting for it to make sense, so he too could laugh with Kokichi like the purplenette obviously was doing inside of his head right now already. Waiting for the young Earl to shout out _it’s a lie_ as per usual when he started one of his stories that made no sense, to take back the statements and to continue on keeping his distance. But that waiting, it was taking rather long, and Ouma could notice that slowly but surely, Saihara’s face was turning redder and redder the longer neither of them spoke. ‘W-wait… you’re serious?’, he asked, more confused than anything, and Kokichi decided to ignore the way that stung. 

‘Of course I am, duh-doy! Why would I ever lie to you about something like that? I never lie, I hate liars!’, Kokichi exclaimed as he basically tolled in his room, circling with his arms spread widely. He hoped that if he got himself dizzy enough, the pain in his chest would move to his stomach. Shuichi blinked, baffled, and supposingly rendered speechless for a moment as he placed his glass down and folded his hands on top of each other, resting them in his lap. ‘You… broke into my house to ask me to marry you?’, Saihara deducted quietly, the confusion that was laced with his voice never failing to make Ouma feel things he’d rather not feel. ‘Yup! I’m real romantic, you see’, Kokichi reasoned, placing his hands on his hips.

Shuichi gulped quietly. ‘Wh-why? What’s going on?’, he asked carefully, looking up at the purplenette that was still standing in the middle of his room and was in this way looking down at him like it was some type of interrogation. He didn’t want it to be like that, but he couldn’t help how he distanced himself in a way anyway. Maybe it was to stop himself from feeling miserable early on. ‘Rude!’, Kokichi pouted, leaning down a little. ‘Are you saying you don’t love me? How cruel you are, Saihara-chan, leading me on from the beginning!’, he amped up his game, ignoring Shuichi’s worried look. The bluenette stood up from where he was seated before, and stepped towards Ouma, grabbing a hold of both of his hands. The purplenette stopped his play. ‘Ouma’, Shuichi muttered, an unreadable expression on his face. That was very unfair, usually Kokichi could easily tell what he was feeling, but now there seemed to be a strange type of hurt readable all over his face, even though there was no reason to be. Of all people, _Kokichi_ was the one that should feel hurt, not the bluenette in front of him. ‘Wh-why are you asking me to marry you?’, the detective repeated his question, not letting go of the hands he was holding. He was giving off mixed signals in the weirdest of ways, and Kokichi was sure he was starting to get sick by the feeling of his stomach being stomped over like.

So, for such a question, Ouma finally decided to give a truthful answer. He told Shuichi about how his parents have wanted for him to find a partner ever since he turned sixteen, and now that he was almost twenty they decided they couldn’t wait any longer. He told him, truthfully, how he had hated every single one of the people interested in him (or more so in his money) that he met during the balls his parents organized for his supposed marriage proposal, and how he figured that if he had to marry someone, it should be someone of his choice. He even told him how he’d asked many of his friends the question, but how all of them had told him that no, they could definitely not live the entirety of the rest of their lives together with the trickster, and how he had finally manned up and turned to Shuichi.  
  
Shuichi chuckled, a somewhat dull sounding laugh from his side as he let go of Kokichi’s hands that immediately felt like they were growing colder, and he sat himself back on the bed. ‘So I’m the last choice? good to know’, Shuichi jabbed at him, or at least attempted to, as his voice that was supposed to take on an humorous tone sounded… disappointed? Well, Kokichi should have known of course that it would seem like this, definitely for someone with a low self esteem like he had. Of course Shuichi was hurt, how could he have been this insensible? It all seemed like he liked Shuichi the least of everyone, and that must be painful when someone you considered a good friend is the person in question. Of course it was the exact opposite of what Saihara expected, but he was not sure how to bring that news to him yet. Instead, he took a seat on the bed next to the bluenette, nudging him to look up. 

‘It’s not like that’, Kokichi told him truthfully, taking a breath he wasn’t aware he needed as much as he did to clear his head. ‘And… I’d be very disappointed if you said no’, the purplenette continued with a humourless chuckle, hoping the way he gulped afterwards wasn’t too noticeable. As he placed his hand over Shuichi’s, hoping to prove a point, the hand seemed to be trembling a little as Saihara pulled it back swiftly, holding it to his chest.

‘O-ouma’, he started, his voice trembling like his hand had, and the sound made Kokichi’s heart ache. He definitely wished to never have to hear him speak in such a beaten down tone again, even if he didn’t know what exactly caused this. ‘Th-the game is o-over, alright? I-it’s been e-enough now’, Shuichi continued, closing his eyes as he spoke. It was a signal that he was under a lot of stress, and this stress, Kokichi understood now _he_ had caused. Why again did he decide to drop this onto the easily agitated male? Why had he not realised how cruel it was? Perhaps, even if he didn’t know why, it would be better simply to leave now and to let the bluenette be in peace, but something was telling him to stay. Probably his heart, wanting to convince the bluenette that he too could grow to love the person Ouma was, if he were to try. He had to, he _had_ to at least try. It was unfair. ‘What do you-’, the purplenette tried to ask, but Shuichi beat him to the punch with a ‘Kokichi, you’re a great friend, truly are. But I can and will not spend my life like that with someone who doesn’t love me, and you know this’.  
  
That was it. The no he had been dreading, expecting but dreading. Now was his time to take his leave and accept his fate. However, before he could get up, his mind suddenly snapped, figuratively grabbing him by the ears and making him relive that sentence. _I can and will not spend my life like that with someone who doesn’t love me, and you know this._

‘Huh…’, Kokichi muttered, deep in thought. That surely was a strange way of saying no. ‘You’re… not actually rejecting me’, Ouma finally put two and two together, staring down at his lap. ‘Wh-what?’, Shuichi asked quietly, the redness to his face returning. His heart was beating harder than it had before, and Kokichi could almost hear it pounding against his chest from where he was sitting, seeing the poor bluenette gulp as though he was caught like a deer in headlights.  
  
Everyone so far had told Kokichi that they couldn’t stand to live with him, because of his way of being. Shuichi however, had not. He had only told him he wouldn’t marry someone who didn’t love him, which was a terribly specific wording on his part. Ergo… ‘You like me’, Kokichi concluded with wide eyes, the conclusion definitely not one he had expected to hear. ‘I think you might- you like me’.  
  
‘I-I think you should leave’, Shuichi sputtered, standing up from his bed and walking to the door of his bedroom, which he opened. ‘R-right now. You should leave. I-I need to sleep, a-and you have to decide on your significant other tomorrow. Get out’, Saihara continued, voice weak. His hands were gripping onto the door handle as tightly as they could, knuckles paling. He looked horrible, and Kokichi hated it, he absolutely hated how much he had managed to hurt his Saihara-chan. He got up from the bed as well, stepping closer to the bluenette and staying behind him where he was stubbornly turned to the door itself as if to make a statement, and he snaked his arms over his waist to hug him from behind. Shuichi tensed up, and Kokichi hoped that what he would say would clear things up, so he could stop his beloved from hurting himself by his thinking. ‘What if I told you I do love you? Would you say yes?’, the purplenette asked as he leaned up on his tippy toes to tell him this close to his ear, hoping it would reach his heart.  
  
Shuichi trembled, and although he tried to hide it, the small sob he had been holding back still left his lips. Kokichi held him tighter. _Please,_ he silently begged in his head, _let him understand. Let him feel._ ‘You’d be lying- p-please Ouma-kun, d-do not be this cruel, and leave’, Saihara whimpered, bracing himself against the wood and letting emotion take over. ‘I’m not. I’m not lying, Saihara-chan. Please, look at me, and see for yourself’. ‘O-ouma-’, Shuichi tried, but Kokichi wanted to hear none of it. ‘Look at me, Shuichi, and see’, the purple haired guy almost begged of him, just wishing for the detective to understand that he was in fact the most truthful he could be to him. 

Reluctantly Shuichi turned to him, watching him like he had been told to. The tears that were assembling on his cheeks stabbed Kokichi in the chest like a knife would have, and he reached up a hand to wipe them off tenderly with his thumb. ‘Please don’t cry, Saihara-chan. I… I love you’.  
  
Shuichi blinked, inspecting his face, and expecting there to be some kind of hind for it to be a lie. When there wasn’t any, he let out another sob, his body shaking a bit with it, as his hand folded over the one that was still holding his face. ‘Y-you.. a-are you.. do you really?’, he managed to ask, closing his eyes in the hope that there would be no tears to follow. Kokichi chuckled quietly, facing away. ‘Of course I do… Whoever would not have fallen in love with you would have been a fool, Shuichi’, he confessed with a small sigh, clearing his throat. ‘You sure do love torturing me! Geez shumai, letting me repeat myself all the time’, he then jabbed at the slowly calming down bluenette who managed to laugh quietly through the softening tears at this. He was glowing now, after all the hurt. He seemed… so very happy. That’s exactly what he deserved, too. He should have been this happy all along. Seeing him like this, it made Kokichi happy too, in a sappy way.  
  
‘I don’t understand why you didn’t come to me right away’, Shuichi told him, wiping the rests of the tears left on his cheeks away as he couldn’t help the big smile that was plastered onto his face now. Kokichi Ouma loved him. Kokichi, he _loved_ him. He almost couldn’t believe it. ‘Well, like I told you, I was scared to come to you immediately, stup- wait’, Kokichi stopped himself from explaining again what his parents had told him and what he had explained before, seeing how Shuichi bit his lip, trying to hide the smile on his face. ‘Do you mean- is that a yes?!’.  
 _  
_‘Kaito told me I need some more excitement in my life, and I think he’s right… so yes, Kokichi Ouma, I will marry you, of course I will’, Shuichi finally said the words, giggling as Kokichi squealed at them and jumped up, flying into the poor Shuichi’s arms, peppering his embarrassedly red face with kisses. ‘S-stop it-’, Saihara eventually whined quietly as he pretended to try and push Ouma away, not sure if he could take his own embarrassment for any longer, ‘You are amazing, a life safer, an _angel_ ’, the purplenette smothered him with compliments only to make the redness in his face worse, and Shuichi groaned as he tried to roll his eyes but failed to, only laughing as Kokichi started to tickle him, and grabbing onto his wrists trying to stop him. 

‘H-hey, I wasn’t finished with my statement’, Shuichi complained with a hum, taking the male in his arms again. Kokichi rested against his chest, not sure if he really cared; he had Shuichi Saihara now, and that was all he really wanted. ‘I will marry you, for as long as I can set some ground rules beforehand’, Shuichi sternly told him, hearing Ouma grumble. ‘Fine, buzzkill, go ahead’, the purplenette complained. ‘Alright! First of all…’

Kokichi didn’t really listen to what Shuichi was saying as he felt his chest rising and falling, as well as moving when he was talking. He could hear the softness of Saihara’s almost melodic voice, and that was enough to feel exactly at home, smiling into the chest he was leaning into. Somehow, he managed to be lucky enough to end up with his first and actual choice. He couldn’t wait to tell his mother, who had heard from the bluenette so now and then during Kokichi’s rambling whenever a day with his friends had been particularly splendid, the wonderful news. But for now, he wanted nothing more than to stay with his fiance, ending his first terrible-going quest on a note that could not have been any happier.  
  



End file.
